Every year we have something called the "big cleanup" when you can put anything at the curb to be picked up and taken away for garbage. I've seen mowers, tvs, computers, fridges you name it. I take a day off this time of year (every year, I can more or less make my own schedule) and go around like many other people to see what I can find, last year making close to 500$.
Today I saw and old reel to reel tape player/recorder and seeing as I couldn't make any reasonable amount of money from it, drove past it not once, but twice and then when I went to the store tonight I decided to pick it up, only to discover a tape inside it.
I expected this tape to be some lame recording of a concert or something but I was amazed when I put it on my good player. This tape contained the interviews and stories of local WW2 vets that were done in the 60s. All of these men are dead now and one was even related to me.
This tape is the the original, if not only copy of this recording left. The label shows the recording dates (different people at different times) and a list of everyone interviewed along with the interviews name.
I plan to get this properly recorded onto a computer by some pros in the city, and then give it to a local military museum who have already told me they would like it.
I quite like finding things like this. Things forgotten and then found again, things that were almost lost forever. This find made my day.